{"product_id":"day-the-germans-came","title":"Day The Germans Came","description":"\u003cb\u003eTrue-life recollections from the Channel Islanders who were the only British subjects to live under Nazi rule in WWII.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 'An absolutely fascinating account of life under German rule in the Channel Islands during the war. As a Guernsey girl I grew up with these stories and recognise family and friends in these pages. Duncan Barrett has done a brilliant job of reflecting the peculiar challenges that existed for those living under occupation. It is an under-told story of an extraordinary time in recent British history.'  - \u003cb\u003eSarah Montague, \u003ci\u003eThe Today Programme\u003c\/i\u003e presenter.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e**The new book from the \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eSugar Girls**\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In the summer of 1940, Britain stood perilously close to invasion. One by one, the nations of Europe had fallen to the unstoppable \u003cb\u003eGerman \u003ci\u003eBlitzkrieg\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, and Hitler’s sights were set on the English coast. And yet, following the success of the \u003cb\u003eBattle of Britain,\u003c\/b\u003e the promised invasion never came. The prospect of German jackboots landing on British soil retreated into the realm of collective nightmares.  But the spectre of what might have been is one that has haunted us down the decades, finding expression in counterfactual history and outlandish fictions. What would a British occupation have looked like? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The answer lies closer to home than we think, in the experiences of the \u003cb\u003eChannel Islanders\u003c\/b\u003e – the only British people to bear the full brunt of German Occupation.  For five years, our nightmares became their everyday reality. The people of \u003cb\u003eGuernsey, Jersey \u003c\/b\u003eand \u003cb\u003eSark \u003c\/b\u003egot to know the enemy as those on the mainland never could, watching in horror as their towns and villages were suddenly draped in \u003cb\u003eSwastika flags\u003c\/b\u003e, their cinemas began showing \u003cb\u003eNazi\u003c\/b\u003e propaganda films, and \u003cb\u003eWehrmacht\u003c\/b\u003e soldiers goose-stepped down their highstreets.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Those who resisted the regime, such as the brave men and women who set up underground newspapers or sheltered slave labourers, encountered the full force of Nazi brutality. But in the main, the \u003cb\u003eChannel Islands occupation\u003c\/b\u003e was a ‘model’ one, a prototype for how the Fuhrer planned to run mainland Britain. As a result, the stories of the islanders are not all misery and terror. Many, in fact are rather funny – tales of plucky individuals trying to get by in almost impossible circumstances, and keeping their spirits up however they could. Unlike their compatriots on the mainland, the islanders had no \u003cb\u003eBlitz \u003c\/b\u003eto contend with, but they met the thousand other challenges the war brought with a similar indomitable spirit. The story of the \u003cb\u003eChannel Islands\u003c\/b\u003e during the war is the history that could so nearly have come to pass for the rest of us.  Based on interviews with over a hundred islanders who lived through it, this book tells that story from beginning to end, opening the lid on life in \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHitler’s British Isles.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  ","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57307552776574,"sku":"NW9781471148163","price":10.22,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9781471148163.jpg?v=1778712612","url":"https:\/\/mediaplace.com\/products\/day-the-germans-came","provider":"MediaPlace","version":"1.0","type":"link"}